Fact or fantasy? Admiral Richard B. Byrd’s account of his flight over the North Pole and discovery of a “land beyond the poles” is legend. For those still unfamiliar with it we present his classic account and leave you to decide

Could it be that certain powers have a vested interest in keeping our real history under wraps? Because a great deal has been unearthed which is completely at odds with conventional notions regarding the origins of what we know today as America

Irish Times – August 11, 2011

US STOCKS declined yesterday, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the lowest level since September 2010, amid concern that Europe will fail to contain its sovereign-debt crisis and that the global economic recovery is faltering.

All 10 groups in the Standard and Poor’s 500 fell at least 2 per cent.

Bank of America and Citigroup dropped, pacing losses in financial shares, as the costs to protect the government debt of Greece, Italy, Spain and France rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 520.06 points, or 4.63 per cent, to 10,719.71.

The S&P 500 fell 51.77 points, or 4.42 per cent, to 1,120.76.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 101.47 points, or 4.09 per cent, to 2,381.05.

“The message is that the market is concerned about the financial industry,” Kevin Caron, market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus, said.

“The fact that Bank of America has said that they are comfortable with fundamentals is very positive. Still, the banks are exposed to a deteriorating economy. The European debt crisis has a whole set of issues. The concern is about a spillover effect of that,” he said.

The S&P 500 has fallen 18 per cent from this year’s high in April on concern about Europe’s debt crisis and a political battle over the US debt ceiling that prompted SP to cut the its credit rating.

Wunderlich Securities cut its rating on the stock to “hold” from “buy” following its quarterly earnings report. TV station advertising sales are down by a mid-single digit percentage this quarter, the company said yesterday on a conference call after the market closed.

Net income rose 11 per cent to $1.48 billion, or 77 cents a share, in the period ended July 2nd. – (Bloomberg/ Reuters)